

ERICA ENGLISH SYNERGY ONE LENDING HOW TO
Also, knowledge of how to successfully implement and improve integrated care is still limited, as is knowledge of how to transfer these experiences to other contexts. For instance, evidence for the effectiveness of integrated care programmes for older people living at home remains inconsistent. Evaluations of these initiatives have established potential benefits of greater levels of service integration, but they have also highlighted limitations. Numerous integrated care initiatives have been rolled out, in a wide range of settings and contexts, in and outside Europe, offering a rich and varied field of practical examples. In this study, integrated care is defined as those initiatives that proactively seek to structure and coordinate care for older people in their own home environments, centred around their needs. There are several definitions for the term ‘integrated care’ in place. Integrated care is widely acknowledged to be a promising approach for meeting such challenges. Sustainable health and social care systems will need to be able to optimally support older people by addressing both their health and social care needs, while at the same time minimise service utilisation and expenditure. These multiple needs may restrict social participation, and lead to reduced self-reliance and increased care dependence, which in turn may result in a higher utilisation of long-term care and support services. While a large proportion of older people are able to stay in their own homes, the prevalence of frailty, multimorbidity and disability increases with age, leading to a growing number of older people living in the community with multiple health and social care needs. This increase is partly due to an ageing population, but also governments in and outside Europe are pursuing agendas that seek to enable older people to participate in society and to live at home for as long as possible. Health and social care systems face the challenge of offering care and support to an increasing number of older people living at home.
